Organizing the Laundry Room

Clean up the mess and stay organized in the laundry room. Photo Credit: jolisoleil

While many household laundry
rooms consist only of a washer and dryer sitting in the corner of a room
intended for other uses, having an organized space nearby to actually function
in the laundering capacity is both essential and fairly easy to do.

One of the best things you
can do for yourself, which also happens to be relatively inexpensive and
simple, is to hang five feet of wall cabinets or shelving above your washer and
dryer. The typical laundry appliance is 30 inches wide—place the washer next
to the dryer and you’ve probably got 60 inches of floor space taken up. In
general, most people are wasting all of that wall space from the top of the
appliances up to the ceiling.

Utilizing this space gives you
ample room for storing your detergent, fabric softener, bleach, stain remover,
and even other things you may find handy while doing the laundry, like an iron,
a basket for storing items you’ve recovered from pockets, clothespins, or
laundry bags for washing delicates in.

Hang Cabinets

By hanging cabinets
in the laundry room you free up surface space that you might need for folding
laundry or just functioning at the washer and dryer without having “stuff” in
your way. And it’s a great way to keep all of those laundry cleaners and items
out of sight as well as up and away from little hands.

Hang Shelves

If you don’t want to hang
cabinets or don’t have enough room for a full cabinet, consider hanging
shelves over the washer and dryer. This, too, can be space for storing your
cleaners and other items, but can also serve as a hanging rack if you include a
few rods or hooks on the sides or bottom of the shelf. Just be sure that the
shelf is secure enough to hold the weight of at least a few wet clothing items
and is high enough that your garments aren’t touching the washer or dryer.

Install Base Cabinets

If, by chance, you have more
room in your laundry room than just what’s overhead, think about installing a
few base cabinets there as well. These are great for storing other laundry room
or linen closet items. They can be used to stash bedding, towels, and other
large items and make fabulous surfaces for folding and sorting clean stacks of
laundry.

Just be sure to wipe down
your countertop before you get to work each time—there’s nothing worse than
enjoying the ample surface space for folding your load of whites upon only to
find that the last person who used it spilled their coffee on the countertop
and ruined all of your good work!